LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

@|ap. Sop^riji^t !!|a. 

Shelf.A27'R6 
1-2.95 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



River, Bird and Star 



/ 

AELLA GREENE, 



author of 
John Peters," "Gathered from Life," Etc, 



PUBLISHED IN 1895. 







Copyright, 1895, 

BY 

AELLA GREENE. 



PRESS OF 

THE BRYANT PRINTING COMPANY, 

FLORENCE, MASS. 



CONTENTS 



I. 
MESSAGES OF THE WATERS 

II. 
IDYLS OF FREEDOM : 

THE GREAT SACRIFICE 

AMERICA 

IN OTHER LANDS 

TRUTH MAKES FREE 

ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA 

VISION AND PROPHECY 

A WARNING TO COLUMBIA 

ORDEAL AND OUTCOME 

A PILGRIMAGE OF CZARS 

BY KOSCIUSKO'S DUST 

WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS 

III. 

CONTRAST : 

CLARE 

INTERLUDE 

LILLIAN 

IV. 

OTHER POEMS: 

THE EQUAL LOT 
AMONG THE TREES 
THE LESSON OF THE LILIES 
DAYBREAK 
A HEAVEN 
'WHERE THENOBLEHAVETHEIR COUNTRY. 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS, 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 



'^^HY valleys how lovely, thy mountains 

■*■ how strong, 

O Northland, how charming thy rivers of 

song. 
No finer the music of rivers with tide 
Through storied lands singing to Severn or 

Clyde, 
No brighter to Scotchmen the burns which 

they know 
That sweet to Loch Katrine through heather 

bloom flow ; 
No gladder to Lomond whirl joyous away 
The streamlets through dingles with hazel 

bloom gay. 
Nor sweeter to Switzers sing brooks to 

Lucerne 
Than chant in New England the lake and the 

burn. 
No sweeter the far wave than waters that sing 
Where Greylock of hilltops is grandly the 

king, 



8 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

Than whirl from Wahconah the waters away 
That bright over gravel of gold and of gray, 
Through Dalton dales dimple, and sparkle, 

and play, 
Than brooks from Katahdin, than others that 

flow 
Where airs from Monadnock inspire them to 

go — 
Than sing the bright thousands of brooklets 

along 
Entrancing the whole of New England with 

song. 
Or, if streamlet is sought of sorrow to tell. 
What brook is more plaintive in old country 

dell 
Than waters from Monument Mountain that 

purl. 
Lamenting the fate of the Indian girl 
Who loved where she might not, and thought 

she must die. 
And plunged in despair from a precipice 

high. 



But sorrow is not the note of your voice, 
O waters of Northland, that ever rejoice. 



MESSAGES OF THE WAFERS. 9 

And even when warning that danger is near 
Intone the monitions to cadence of cheer. 
Ye brooks of New England that carol like this, 
O warble forever to Northland your bliss ! 
And ye who admire them, O leave them to run 
And wimple, and sparkle, and sing in the sun. 
Unchained to carved channels that dullards 

have made 
In worship of Use and the tyrant of Trade ! 
O leave them that faring unfettered along, 
They babble their beautiful blessing of song! 



But more than the music or glance of the wave 
O'er which the lovers of beauty may rave. 
While they of each land of home rivers boast 
O'er waters enchanting the foreigner's coast, 
'Tis the truth that they sing that giveth the 

worth 
To musical waters that gladden the earth 
Go, zephyrs of heaven and fleet ye afar 
By light of morn lustre and gleam of the star, 
And tell in the city, and desert, and dell. 
To all who in cot or in palaces dwell. 
Or tent on the plains, or anywhere live. 
What calm and what rapture the river songs 



g 



ive 



lO MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

The strength lor brave doing, the power to 

endure, 
The vision to ken and the faith to secure 
The blessings that nature delights to confer 
On those who in loyalty seek them of her. 



If ever ambition allure thee to greed, 
Then listen to song of the waters, and heed : 
" Thou eager for power, seek gentleness first ; 
Who covets but power, and winneth, is cursed. 
Whatever thy portion, content with thy store^ 
O covet not theirs who shall chance to have 

more. 
Nor let thou that sin of the small soul be thine, 
The rancor of envy, that spirit malign, 
The chief of the meanest of cowardly foes. 
Who cost man his Eden and gave him his 

woes ! " 



Whenever thou findest the trusted untrue, 
Forgiving the wrong that the treacherous do,. 
And looking away to the blue of the love 
Proclaiming Benignity regnant above, 
Give heed to the waters that bid thee rejoice 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. II 

And join in the song of the rivulet's voice. 
If friends have deserted and 'leaguering foes, 
United against thee, are fierce to oppose, 
Then listen and rivulet singing shall say 
The word to inspire thee to hold them at bay 
Till angel shall come with a pebble and sling 
And bid thee to rout them by felling their king. 
Whatever its message, believe in the tide — 
Though human voice vary, a brook never lied ! 
Or purling as soft as the peace of the sky, 
Or singing as grand as the harpers on high. 
It giveth forever the essence of truth 
That solaces age and sanctifies youth. 
And warbled in valley or prattled in glen 
Is simple as childhood yet equal to men — 
Truth sweet as the roses that blossom in 

heaven, 
Truth hither for mortals to rivulet given ! 
And sung in the sun time and star time, to 

give 
High hint and good helping sublimely to live! 



What rashness of pride that ventures to spurn, 
What wisdom of reverence that listens to 
learn. 



12 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

The truth to be heard in the song of the burn. 
Sweet pleading with Power to be true and be 

mild 
As brook is, or bird is, or Christ, or a child. 
It telleth the way to the destinies grand 
As fancy can paint or wish to command. 
And mortal, whatever the cadences be 
Of rivulet, lake wave, or surge of the sea, 
Tis the spirit of God speaks through them 

to cheer. 
Or warn if to danger thy journey draws near. 



Whatever thy talent, what work doth engage, 
And living wherever, in whatever age. 
And hoA-ever many thy years on the earth. 
The rivulet's voice will still have its worth. 
And when shall appear the swift coming day 
When thou from this province must journey 

away 
To country, wherever that country may be, 
Reached over what mountain and over what 

sea, 
Where thou shalt find much that is strange 

unto thee, 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS 1 3 



How sweet, when departing, to look on the 



wave 



wave 

That joy to the days of thine earthly life gave I 
And O ! what a rapture 'twill add to thy 

heaven 
If there, in that country, like music be given, 
If there,to enchant thee, shall carol and gleam 
The waters with sparkle and song like the 

stream 
Enhancing the days of thy sojourning here 
With song that is wisdom and sonor that is 

cheer ! 



II 



w 



HERE Mountain Monadnock, majestic 

in might 

And infinite leisure, rose grand in his height, 
And angels came heralds from heaven to bring 
The best of May mornings to gladden the 

spring. 
And waters from beechen grove sparkled 

whose wave. 
That charm to the hours of the bright morn- 
ing gave 



14 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

Which wakens the birds to theircheeriest tune 
And Mayfields to green to the brightness of 

June — 
There, forth from the home of her humble life 

sweet, 
A maiden went singing the morning to greet, 
And, tranced by the resonant waters that sang 
Till echoing distances joyfully rang, 
She waited in wonder and awe at the song 
Of the glittering waters that sparkled along, 
While Mountain Monadnock rejoicing in 

might 
From foot hills to summit beamed forth his 

delight ! 



And rapt o'er the scene of that morning of May 
The maiden entranced heard the waters to say: 
''Thy motto be duty, thy jewel be truth ; 
And wisdom prize ever as prizing in youth ; 
And love, which to many but sorrow doth 

bring, 
Shall be thy good angel to cheer thee to sing 
Beyond the high music of joyfulest stream 
That ever charmed poet to tunefulest theme. 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 1 5 

^* Go ask of thy mother what message I said 
When hither her thoughtfulest saunteringled, 
And breathing the hope of a treasure to be, 
She went and months later came speaking of 

thee, 
With joy and the graces of motherhood came 
Discoursing of thee and telling thy name. 
Bright seasons have blossomed and blossomed 

again, 
And cometh the maiden where mother came 

then 
That message, by matron well heeded, I read 
In traits of the maiden, who surely will heed 
The counsel when matron shall tenderly tell 
The message and ask her to honor it well." 



The summers that came and the summers 

that went 
To girlhood the graces of womanhood lent; 
And lovingly loitering there by the stream, 
Entranced o'er the ripple, and dimple, and 

gleam, 
Two whispered the message the matron had 

told. 



l6 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

The words that she heard of the river of 

old. 
And, each ripple a song and each dimple a 

gem, 
The waters repeated the message to them — 
That kindness of each to the other would give 
To offspring best traits of each other and live 
In habitudes high of childhood, to tell 
Their wooing was wisdom, their mating was 

well. 
Prenatal inclining to excellence, given ! 
Bestowing, ere breath, the impulse for heaven L 



And later with infancy smiling they came ; 
And followed another who listened to name 
The father and mother breathed forth in their 

joy 
And raised, as they bade him, to brow of the 

boy 
Bright drops of the rivulet's musical wave, 
To honor the message the rivulet gave. 
Then looking in faith to the blue of the sky, 
Each reverently prayed to the Gracious on. 

high ; 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 1 7 



And the birds and the zephyrs united in song 
With wave of the waters that caroled along — 
A song that was prayer for and thanks for the 

joy 
Prefigured in crystal drops there for the boy. 
And Mountain Monadnock, beholding the 

rite, 
In sweetness and majesty glowed with delight. 



Ill 



■\1 THERE singing to mountains its reson- 
^ * ant song 

A brook from a beechen grove caroled 

along, 
In chime with the robins, reflecting their 

bowers, 
Inspiring the sunbeams to sweeten the flowers, 
And rippling in time of the march of the 

hours 
Of a morning the best that the skies could 

attune 
And send from Elvsium to gladden a June — 



l8 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS 

There fresh from the meads where the butter- 
cups grew. 
There free as the birds from the bloom fields 

that flew, 
There joyously singing child songs that he 

knew, 
There charming as nature, and ariless, and 

true, 
There bright on the morn of that June day 

of joy, 
There blithe witii the breath of his blisses, a 

boy, 
Impelled by the pulses prophetic of m.an, 
In step with the waves of the rivulet ran. 
Then, halting in-rapture delighted to scan 
The waves of the beautiful streamlet that 

sang 
Until with the carol the distances rang. 
He tarried, entranced and held in high 

mood. 
To muse on the song of the musical fiood ! 



And this was the song that the rivulet sung 
With its liquid lip and its silver tongue : 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 1 9 

^' In the freedom of childhood, O childhood 

rejoice ; 
Here's health to thy being and charm to thy 

voice ! 
The simple things love thou, as loving them 

now ; 
The angels love these, and ever love thou. 
VVouldst be like the eagle ? the rather the 

dove be ; 
The lilies, the robins, the blue sky above thee, 
Love these and be like them and angels will 

love thee, 
While birds and the zephyrs shall make it 

their choice 
To copy in carols the charm of thy voice. 



" If wisdom be thine and if virtue attend 

thee 
The blessings of heaven the Gracious shall 

send thee. 
Commanding the best of His host to defend 

thee. 
Bright songsters entrancing their high songs 

to sing thee, 



20 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

Swift argosies gems from the far isles to 
bring thee. 

And airs the rare odors of east clime to wing 
thee. 

O pure as the breath of the flowers of the 
wildwood, 

Forever be true to the dreams of thy child- 
hood, 

And angels and good men shall ever rejoice 

In the health of thy being and charm of thy 
voice." 



And this was the song that the rivulet sung 
With its liquid tip and its silver tongue. 
And, joyed o'er the song of the silvery wave, 
The mo^untains responsive the cadences gave 
To zephyrs, that glad with their tunefulest 

gold 
The beautiful song thj-ough the distances 

told 
To angels commissioned to sing to the earth 
The joy of the song of the land of their birth 
And missioned to listen, attentive in heaven, 
For singing to mortals by rivulet given. 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 2 1 

And catching the cadence, they hasten where 

gleam 
The resonant waves of the musical stream 
And tarry to study, delighted to learn. 
The silvery song of the murmuring burn. 
And conning the carol, they heighten the 

worth 
Of the heavenly song for the listening 

earth, 
And pour the blent music in nature's good 

way. 
As real as the rill song or lark roundelay 
That wakens the earth to the joy of the 

day — 
High music that heartens the earth born to 

stay 
And toil through their life until fitted to 

rise 
And join in the joy of the song of the skies ! 



There greeting the glad one whose June day 

of joy 
Was bright with the hope and the bliss of a 

boy, 



22 MESSAGES OF THP: WATERS. 

There sweet in the dawn of some June day of 

heaven 
Shall angels enchant him with canticle 

given 
Where singing to mountains its resonant song 
A brook from a beechen grove caroled along ! 



For christlike was he, the boy by the wave 
That joy to the hours of the June morning 

gave. 
Again there he listened, and this was the 

song 
The waters warbled as they sparkled along : 
" Who love thee will tell thee of w^ords that I 

said 
When hither good angels their sauntering led, 
And tell thee, bright one of the fortunate 

birth, 
What greatly shall heighten thy joy and thy 

worth 
And make thy good fortune a blessing to 

earth — 
A story they learned from pages they read 
Till deep of its meaning their spirits had fed, 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 23 



The story of Christ that enraptures the 

days 
Since earthward came He of the wonderful 



The story of Him who banisheth tears 
And brightens the glory of all of the years 



" That story, ye waters, my father has told 
And bade me to prize it more precious than 

gold, 
The storv of One whose love so endears. 
Who saVes us from sin and drives away 

fears. 
The sheep and the shepherds at night on the 

plains, 
The bright angels singing their heavenly 

stains, 
The child in the manger, the men from 

And that beautiful, beautiful, wonderful 

star ! 
That story, most lovely of beautiful things — 
There's sing in it, waters, how charming it 

sings ! " 



24 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

"The truth of that idyl keep fresh in thy 

heart, 
Bright spring of best hopes and the source of 

true art. 
O pure as the breath of the flowers of the 

wildwood, 
Forever be true to the dreams of thy child- 
hood I 
For fancies of childhood, though fancies thev 

be, 
Have truth from that country away over 

sea. 
Bright dreams of pure childhood, ideals from 

heaven ! 
There speak and there glisten in every one 

given 
The faces and voices from country afar — 
Taught there by what zephyr, what bird and 

what star ! 
O pure as the breath of the flowers of the' 

wildwood, 
Keep sacred the idyl thou learn'dst in thy 

childhood 
High born as thou art, thy heritage prize ; 
The steward of blessings bestowed fr^^m the 

skies. 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 25 

Not vain of thy goodness, bless those who 

have less, 
And be thine ambition to live but to bless. 
Lift up the downfallen and lead to that One 
Who knoweth how illy some lives are begun, 
Who pities their erring and knoweth each 

frame 
And points from their woes to the power of 

His name." 



And thus to the boy the rivulet sung, 

Its beautiful wisdom for the heart of the 

young ; 
And this the response that in bounding joy. 
Burst forth spontaneous from the heart of 

the boy. 
And the bright ones that hovered from the 

choirs on high, 
Flew joyous to heaven to address the 

sky 
On the beautiful scene of the boy by the 

wave, 
Awake to the wisdom that the glad waters 

gave. 



26 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 



^T^HE sweetest songsters carol 
''■ Among the Berkshire hills, 

In harmony with music 

Arising from the rills 
That flow with silvery murmur, 

In melody along, 
And charm as if in heaven 

They learned the art of song, 
And were by Him empowered 

Who formed the starry spheres 
And guides their rhythmic motion 

Through all the circling years. 



Bright brooks ! they came from heaven, 

To teach the tuneful art, 
And woo men from their sorrows 

And from their cares apart ; 
To teach them high behavior. 

And gentle ways and true, 
Inspiring them with courage 

To fight life's battles through ; 
The while, through all the harshness 

That gives to earth its ban, 
They live attuned for living 

Where harmony began. 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 27 

There other brooks, in chorus 

With other birds, shall sing, 
To tell the power and goodness 

Of the Eternal King ; 
y\nd welcome home the singers 

From the dissonance of time 
To the melodies of heaven 

And the zephyrs of the clime 
With song far, far exceeding 

The music of the rills 
That carol with the songsters 

Among these restful hills. 



n^HY valleys how lovely, thy mountains 

how strong ! 
O Northland ! how charming thy rivers of 

song ! 
Bright waters, that winding from Windsor 

away, 
Swift purling o'er gravel of gold and of gray, 
Through Dalton dales dimple, and wimple, 

and play, 
As waters in elfinland singing to fay. 
The fairies entrancing as rivulets may. 



2 8 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

And rivulets will, so fairy folks say, 
With witcheries weird of gambolings gay, 
And cadences fine, and melodies sweet, 
And tit where elite of fairy folk meet, 
With honors the princes of eifland to greet — 
Ye waves from Wahconah through thickets 

that flow, 
And charm to their sweetness the wild flowers 

that grow, 
AVhat numbers, bright waters, your music 

can tell. 
Thus witching through wildness and dulcet 

in dell ! 
Sweet waters, bright waters, that charmingly 

sing 
Of Dalton, the jewel of Berkshire the king ! 



Ye waters, that winding from Windsor away. 
Through Dalton dales dimple, and wimple 

and say. 
As, bright over gravel of gold and of gray. 
Ye chant in high music while charmingly gay, 
^* Thou listening entranced o'er the musical 

wave. 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 29 

To honor the music, O mortal, be brave. 
Arouse thee from trancement to battle in life; 
And, valiant and true in every strife, 
Be more than the mood that comes of mere 

charm ; 
The trancement of sweetness is cause for 

alarm — " 
Ye waters, thus bravely and timely that ring 
Of vigor and valor, what numbers shall sing 
The wealth of the wisdom of waters whose 

wave 
Entrances to cheer the charmed to be brave I 
Bright waters ! inspiring the valiant until, 
Grown godlike from heeding the song of a rill, 
They honor in action the truth of the song 
That sparkles and warbles their life ways 

along. 
What seer hath the vision, ye waves, to divine 
The wealth of your wisdom, ye waters benignl 



Ye brooks from Katahdin and streamlets that 

fiow 
Where airs from Monadnock inspire them to 

go; 



so MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

Bright waters I that winding from Windsor 

away, 
Through Dalton dales dimple, and wimple, 

and play ; 
Brooks bright in that region where heroes 

were born 
Whom T3^ranny hated, but never could 

scorn — 
Old Litchfield still lustrous with memories of 

worth 
That shine through the Northland with joy 

for the earth ; 
Ye waters that sing in Otsego and shine 
Reflecting the love of the Spirit benign ; 
Ye brooks to Itasca that sing through the 

plains, 
Entrancing the vastness with charm of your 

strains ; 
Ye waters the depths of wnld canyons that 

dare, 
And calmly, fearlessly, joyously there. 
The truth to the mightiest mountains de- 
clare — 
Wherever all over the Northland ye sing. 
From heaven, bright waters, your music ye 

bring ! 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 3 1 

Ye waters of Northland, that carol like this, 
O warble forever to Northland your bliss ! 
And waft ye, fleet zephyrs, to every strand 
This music of gladness, this joy of our land ! 
And, say, O ye zephyrs who chant with the 

tide 
Of Erie, Lucerne, and Severn and Clyde, 
And brooks that sing to them and waters that 

pour 
Enchantment to every mountain and shore, 
And thus have sung on through all of the 

years. 
Enhancement of gladness and comfort of 

tears — 
Say, zephyrs, wherever your courses ye wing 
If brighter tlian waters in Northland that 

sing, 
If brighter ye find a wave in the world. 
If lovelier the waters in Eden that purled ! 



IDYLS OF FREEDOM 



THE GREAT SACRIFICE. 



f^ STARS, what history 
^^ It has been yours to see 
Enacted here, since man, 
Crown of creation's plan, 
His wanderings began — 
Since to his pristine joy 
He added an alloy 
That forth a rover sent 
Him, fired with discontent. 
Say since, with Eden lost, 
The fateful bounds he crossed, 
How dear his straying cost ! 
Still, while in wretched plight, 
He was not hopeless quite. 
Nor rayless was his night. 



Stars that have kindly shone 
On paths his feet have gone — 
Than downward, let us hope, 
Onward more, and up — 



36 THE GREAT SACRIFICE. 

Aid still his wish and quest 

For truth, and peace and rest. 

Still from the blue above 

Shine where he wars to piove 

His patriotic love, 

And, dying, asks you tell 

The ages that he fell 

To foil the tyrant's hand 

And bless his native land. 

And tell, as tell ye must, 

O stars, for stars are just, 

From what great sacrifice 

All others do arise. 

Tell what, foreseen, inspired, 

And what accomplished, fired, 

The patriot heart to live 

For liberty and give 

His life to make men free. 

And aid, O stars, to see 

That highest liberty 

Gives equal weight of care, 

Gives unto each his share 

Of burdens all must bear ; 

That liberty, if boon, 

Used wrongly, cometh soon 

To license, that is not 



THE (;reat sacrifice. 37 

True liberty, but blot 
On the historic page, 
A hindrance to the age. 



This life, this sacrifice, 
O stars, from which arise 
The heavenly blessings given 
And hope of more in heaven — 
This life of hope for man, 
Ye saw as it began. 
Ye saw its teeming day. 
O stars, and sunset ray, 
And deathly chill of night, 
And hint at last of lieht. 
Ye saw the glorious morn 
Of grace and peace adorn 
The mountain heights of time 
And shine to every clime, 
To make all life sublime ! 
A star 'twas guided them 
Who fared to Bethlehem ; 
And at cerulean poise 
It sentineled their joys, 
As o'er the Savior born, 



38 THE GREAT SACRIFICE. 

Rejoicing till the morn, 
They mused on what should be 
His wondrous history. 
Stars gave the warning dream 
Of Herod's hellish scheme 
And guided, then, the flight 
To Egypt through the night. 
And o'er the child returned 
The stars in gladness burned. 



The stars rejoiced the boy 

And study gave and joy, 

As through the years he grew 

To all the ages knew — 

Till wondering sages gazed 

Adoring and amazed. 

Stars cheered the Christ who prayed 

In lonely mountain glade, 

And sang their joy to see 

The helpful ministry 

Of Him of Galilee. ^ 

And when his followers slept 

Ye stars in pity wept ; 

And, weeping, wondered ye 



THE GREAT SACRIFICE. 39 

At the sublimity 
Of sad Gethsemane ! 
And when at Calvary 
The sun refused to shine, 
Your stellar beams were sign 
That Christ, the slain, should rise. 
Completed sacrifice, 
Triumphant to the skies ! 



Ye stars that wondering saw 
His answer to the law^ 
Who for the sinful died 
And poured the precious tide 
Of his great life, to give 
The sinful chance to live,— 
Ye stars who heard the word 
Sublimest ever heard, 
That Jesus at His death 
Spoke with His dying breath, 
To say the work was done. 
The victory was won— 
From that sublimity. 
That matchless agony, 
All greatness doth proceed. 



40 AMERICA. 

Thence every noble deed, 
Thence all unselfishness, 
Thence every pulse to bless 
That helps the patriot die, 
Without the question why, 
For home and liberty. 



AMERICA. 

/^N days and deeds sublime 

^^ That gem this western clime, 

O stars of Freedom, shine. 

And shed your beams benign 

Where Concord bridge was won, 

And rustic Lexington — 

And Bunker Hill declared. 

And Bennington, how fared 

The foes of liberty 

Who warred against the free. 



Shine where the great and good 
With high solicitude, 



AMERICA. 41 

In meekness knelt to pray 

To Heaven to drive away 

The foreign foes and give 

The country chance to live. 

How humble and how great, 

How fit to found a state, 

Was he who knelt that day. 

At Valley Forge, to pray ! 

And may his land remain 

The place of all good gain 

And Freedom's own domain. 

The home and resting place 

Of bravery and of grace, 

Of greatness and all worth — 

The paradise of earth ! 

Though truth the charm will break, 

Still best the truth to speak. 

Here, where 'twas general boast 

That this was Freedom's coast, 

Were human beings chained, 

While Selfishness explained 

That slavery was right. 

And those who saw the plight 

That Liberty was in, 

By league with such a sin. 

And dared rebuke the wrong. 

That still was growing strong 



42 AMERICA. 

While grew the nation weak 
To danger that 'twould break, 
Were stigmatized as fools 
Beyond discretion's rules. 
But, in these later days, 
The scoffers dare the praise 
That radicals were wise 
And fit to canonize 
For the sublimest skies ! 



How cursed this sin the land 
We came to understand 
When Donelson was need 
And Fredericksburg, and greed 
Of rough-hewn havoc made 
On Sherman's master raid 
Of horse and infantry 
From inland to the sea ! 
And need to prove our liege 
To liberty was siege 
Of Vicksburg and the shock 
Of " Chickamauga's Rock," 
Grim Thomas of the build 
To name for Caesar's guild. 



AMEPvICA. 43 

So Grierson's reckless dash, 

Discreet in that 'twas rash ; 

And Farragut in the shrouds 

And Hooker in the clouds, 

And Ellsworth first to die, 

And gallant Lyon— why 

So early sent to heaven ! 
And why McPherson given, 
And thousands, thousands more ! 
How runneth up the score, 
Through scenes of din and gore, 
To Gettysburg, sublime 
Through all the years of time ! 



What tongue can tell, what pen, 

The fate of prisoned men 

Who, doomed to the ill 

Of Andersonville, 

Learned the tortues that spell 

A new name for hell ! 

And who can count their tears 

And warring hopes and fears, 

Who mourned their loved ones there, 

Or slain in conflict, where, 



44 AMERICA. 

Though glorious thus to fall 
For country and for all 
That's dear, and true, and high, 
'Twas fearful, still, to die ! 
And hard was it to know 
That with the slaughter, slow 
Moved the cause of right 
And darkened down the night 
Of doubt, with scarce a ray 
To hint of coming day. 
But rose a lustrous star 
When he led on the war 
Whose calm, courageous way 
Of hero in affray, 
Assured, at once, a morn, 
And was the sign to warn 
The foemen of defeat 
Their cause was sure to meet 



Now once and three times three, 

At Appomattox tree, 

Give every one to all 

Who heeded Freedom's call 

And marched with Grant, to hew 



AMERICA. 



45 



The hard-fought journey through 
The Wilderness, to see 
The dawn of victory. 



But who shall sing to tell 

Their deeds who fought and fell 

In all the hard campaigns, 

Who equal epic strains 

For those whose crimson stains 

Full thrice a hundred plains, 

And reddens bloody years, 

Which make them high compeers 

Of all the brave that Time 

Hath brought to wreath and rhyme 



Let gratitude be given 
In joyful song to Heaven ; 
Aye, shout and sing again, 
Good citizens, that when 
The nation was in dole 
A man of prophet soul 
Was sent to meet our need. 



4^ AiMERICA, 

A man inspired to read 
The meaning of the times 
The country for its crimes 
Was going through,— this man, 
With genius fit to plan 
And brave enough to act, 
Made thus his vision fact, 
Wielding the nation's might 
For mercy and the right, 
And breaking at a stroke. 
The bondman's galling yoke. 



Good stars, your radiance shed 

On paths where Lincoln led 

Through all those years of strife 

Up to the higher life 

Of Freedom and of peace 

And all the good increase 

That makes these states combined 

The envy of mankind ! 



IN OTHER LANDS. 

GOOD stars, what prophet ken 
Had Aztec Juarez, when 
For liberty he fought 
Against the foe who sought 
T© bind with Spanish chain 
The Mexican in train 
Of papal Rome, to slave 
Subservient where the brave 
Descendants of the sun 
Their long career had run, 
Free as the airs that fanned 
Their lovely native land. 
Well ye rejoiced, to see 
Where foreign tyranny 
Had reigned, superior rise, 
To crown the high emprise 
Of Juarez with success 
And so mankind to bless. 
The fair republic bright 
With promise for the right 
Ot patriots everywhere. 
For each hath right to share 
Each country of the free. 
Wherever dwelleth he. 



48 IN OTHER LANDS. 

Still Juarez only did 

As high examples bid — 

Through thirty years of blood, 

When that brave Swiss withstood 

The papal powers combined, 

Who sought on all mankind 

To place the Latin yoke — 

Gustavus brave, who broke 

The bondage long and sore 

For northmen evermore. 

He drove the power of Rome 

From church, and court, and home. 

Wherein the people sing, 

To crown Gustavus king ! 

And cadence of the song 

The southland doth prolong. 

Where well Emanuel strove 

And Garibaldi's love 

Was given for Italy, 

Mankind and liberty. 



And Magyars, whose Kossuth 
For country and for truth 
Was sacrifice, may raise 
To favoring Heaven their praise 



IN OTHER LANDS 49 

For his grand life, and twine 
The wreath and pray the Nine 
To sing to full import 
That high in Austrian court 
The Magyars reign, whom erst 
The tyrant Austrians cursed ! 



How bright the stars that look 
On Scotland's famous brook 
And bid the ages learn 
That Bruce of Bannockburn 
Was Caledonia's pride ! 
Shine where her sons defied, 
At Flodden field, the foe 
That laid her banner low. 
Yet in defeat were strong 
To height of grandest song. 
Beam kind on every glen 
Known to his foot and ken, 
That kingliest of men, 
The Wallace of the Eld, 
Whom, then, ye stars beheld 
And sang him worthy praise 
Of all the future days. 



5© IN OTHER LANDS. 

Shine, stars, with beams benign 
On scene of deeds divine, 
Where Winkelried the brave, 
His Switzerland to save. 
Threw on the Austrian steel 
His mighty rage of zeal 
And struck in death the blow 
To break the serried foe. 
His followers raining blows 
Where grand his courage rose. 
Thus turned the tide and day 
Against the cruel fray 
Of those who sought t' enslave 
The Switzer patriots brave, 
Whom God's own mountains gave 
That love of liberty 
That fits men to be free. 



And evermore shall ye. 

Bright stars of liberty. 

Rejoice to shine upon 

The field where Cromwell won, 

At Marston Moor, the day 

And stemmed the tyrant's sway, 



TRUTH MAKES FREE. 51 

Till full at Naseby, then, 
Where royal Charles again 
Marshaled his hosts, the band 
Of patriots dared withstand 
The legions of the king 
And all the years shall sing, 
To let the future know, 
They routed him to show 
That foreign he, and foe, 
Though native born — for he 
Loved not true liberty. 



TRUTH MAKES FREE. 

AS truth alone makes free. 
Who country loves must see 
The truth, and love the truth 
As ardently as youth 
The maiden from whose heart 
Not even death can part. 
Truth founded love gives rate, 
The citizen's estate, 
A country and a place. 



52 TRUTH MAKLS FREE. 

Fraternity and race. 
Alien to truth, a man 
Nor country hath, nor clan, 
Though castled well and crowned 
With choicest treasures found 
In late or olden times, 
Through west or Orient climes. 
Aye, foreign he, and poor, 
And sick, though mount and moor 
Afford their gold for wealth 
And myrrhs to bless his health. 
Not loving truth, then he 
Shall poor and homeless be. 
Though heraldry declare 
That ancient lineage rare 
Makes him the rightful heir 
To every land and throne, 
And though the people own 
The purple of his power. 
Rejoicing in his dower 
And seeking bards to sing 
Him bishop, lord and king ! 
But harps must not descend. 
For song hath upward trend ; 
So, who but hymns for pay 
Sings but a meagre lay. 



TRUTH MAKES FREE. 53 

And rhyme they ne'er so well, 
The bards who seek to tell 
An untruth in a song 
And sing success of wrong, — 
Some Croesus toast for wealth 
That came alone by stealth. 
And hymn the tyrant's power 
As given by heavenly dower — 
Will fail to reach the lays 
That live in honor's praise. 
Then, faltering down to praise 
Whose labored lines confess 
They sing from selfishness. 
They'll rave to furious stress 
Of prayer to Power to bless, 
When Truth alone gives theme 
Befitting poet's dream. 
This truth, ye stars above, 
No truth, there is no love. 
No truth, the gold shall rust. 
To teach the truth it must — 
No truth, then love is lust, 
And love of country, show 
Which all true patriots know 
As subterfuge and sham 
That would to meanness damn. 



54 TRUTH MAKES FREE. 

Beyond redeeming grace, 
A country and a race ! 



Yet strange contrasts arise, 

Some royal mysteries — 

A king to virtue known, 

Yet who could make his throne, 

By tricks that must belong 

The hellish arts among, 

The anchor of a wrong 

That should have scourge of song, 

The very rage of rhyme. 

To blast to future time ! 

The Charles whom Cromwell fought, 

True to his home, was naught 

But false to native land. 

Though promising, his hand 

Withheld the needed good 

He pledged to those Avho stood 

For liberty and right. 

For these did Cromwell fight ; 

For these he overthrew 

The Stuart king and slew 

The false one of the throne. 



TRUTH MAKES !< REE, 



And by the act was shown 

In England evermore — 

A truth the wide world o'er, 

And as the sunlight plain — 

The right of kings to reign, 

Original in heaven, 

Is to the governed given, 

By them to be transferred, 

In their installing word. 

To those their love shall say 

The kingly traits display. 

Would Cromwell had remained. 

Preventing crime that stained 

Bright Albion's sovran name. 

By other Charles who came, 

The Charles who ever wrought 

Injustice and who thought 

Of self alone, and sought 

Delight in splendid sin 

And seemed possessed to win, 

By elegance ot shame. 

An ever florid fame 

Unto his royal name ! 



55 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 



T F ill the theme befits 

To sing of Austeriitz, 
If vain to weep awhile 
By lone Helena's isle, 
If cold, to some, such theme 
For patriotic dream. 
In that the Corsican 
Fought not for fellow-man, 
But strove alone for fame 
For his imperial name — 
O would some one as rod 
Of an avenging God, 
Arise, who, sent by wrath 
Of Heaven, should cleave a path 
Through Tyranny's domains 
To far Siberia's plains, 
And break the prison bars 
Of victims of the czars ! 



The cause demands a man 
Serener, grander than 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 57 

The dreaded Corsican ? 

May one with like strong hand 

And genius to command, 

Arise — some leader born 

Under the star of morn, 

Some one whose shining worth 

Shall win the best of earth 

To highest hope and prayer 

For Heaven's especial care, 

And win good gallant men 

To join his flag, whose ken 

At once, from far, can see 

The day of victory — 

The men with might to win 

The boon their faith hath seen. 



O, chieftain of the skies ! 
And Freedom's cause, arise 
And panoplied for wars, 
Go guided by the stars 
That favoring shone 
Above Napoleon, 
In that sublime advance 
From his admiring France 



5^ ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

That made ihe Russias quake 
And all the kingdoms shake I 
Stars, they, to aid to see 
The way to victory t 
Stars that would lustrous burn 
To light the grand return 
Of victors from the fray 
Where justice won the day. 



Not so the mai'ch when Ney 

Fared on the frozen way, 

To cheer his leader back 

Along the winter track, 

With remnant of his host. 

To mourn the prize they lost, 

A city burned to ban 

The mighty Corsican. 

Him Russia dared not fight, 

But put to sorry plight 

By burning roof and bread 

That should have housed and fed 

The host, who froze or starved 

By thousands ere they carved. 

With Bonaparte and Ney 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 59 

To France their pilgrim way. 
But those engaged 
In warring waged 
To break the dungeon bars 
Of prisoned worth, ye stars 
Would good birds send to feed, 
Unto their fullest need, 
With manna of the Heaven 
That bread hath ever given 
To those who well have striven, 
Through hard or favored fight. 
In furtherance of right. 



If Moscow burned again 
'Twould light the prisoned men 
From durance hard to flee 
To hope and liberty, 
The men whose dungeon bars 
Are legacy of czars, 
Kings whose oppression is 
Acme of tyrannies ! 
Commanding those away 
In bondage sore to stay, 
Whose glances have told. 



6o ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 



Or a breath over bold, 

That the fancies they hold 

Slight hindrances are 

To the wish of a czar ! 

Dooming banishment 

For the mildest intent 

Of the patriot heart ! 

O tyrant ! what art 

Of what spirit malign 

Of the demons is thine ! 

How strange that czars should ban 

Those whom but easy plan 

Of right would lead to own 

Allegiance to the throne 

And give their life to prove 

Their loyalty of love 

And interest in the fame 

Of Alexander's name ! 

But heeding not the cries 

That move the pitying skies 

And make the nations weep, 

These Tartar tyrants keep 

Their hand of tyranny 

Against all liberty. 



O, when Sarmatia's brave. 
With Kosciusko gave, 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 6l 

Must valorous blows to save 
Their country from the grave 
That fierce tyrannic might 
Had dug for Truth and Right, 
Say, Heaven of justice, say. 
Why did Thy vengeance stay 
From smiting down her foes? 
O, when to Thee arose 
Their patriotic cry. 
Why, Heaven of pity, why 
Should fail thy mighty arm 
To shield their land fr^m harm ? 



And fell Sarmatia, then. 
And her heroic men, 
Whose patriotic worth 
Had brightened all the earth, 
Were graced with exiles' chains 
And scourged across the plains 
Afar to foreign strand. 
There they were given brand 
Befitting felon band ; 
Aye, there were given rate 
Meaner than murderer's fate. 



62 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

Whose hands the blood had spilt 

Of parricid.il guilt ! 

Yet, there, the scorn of slaves, 

Do these Sarmatian braves 

Display, despite the gloom 

Of their Siberian doom, 

The rare sweet quality 

Of fitness to be free ! 

Stay, Angel of the Book 

Of Record, stay, and look ! 

For this is far from all 

Of Poland's direful thrall 

From Russia's might, whose whole 

Of tyrant dirt and dole 

Hath hue of Herod's crime, 

And smells of Nero's time ! 

Fair women sent to pine 

In dark and noisome mine ! 

Or sent with felon's chain 

To walk the weary plain 

Where mercy hath no rate, 

Where hunger hath no sate 

But cup and crust of hate ! 

Or hath she darker fate 

That is so worse than death 

It is not given breath ! 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 6;^ 

Nor is this all, for there, 
Condemned to exile's fare, 
The patriot's children know- 
Maturity of woe ! 
O angel ! and ye stars ! 
Enduring still the czars ! 
What Herod edict this ! 
Ukase to blot the bliss 
From childhood's heart of joy, 
That never knew alloy 
Of ill, nor thought to stray 
In sin's forbidden way. 
And so most rightfully 
The heir of liberty, 
Entitled to be free 
As nature's minstrelsy 
Of zephyrs, birds and rills 
That sinor to freedom's hills ! 



Read not the story through. 
Read not of Finn or Jew, 
Read not, though each have felt 
The blows the tyrants dealt 
To emphasize their hate 



^4 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

Of freedom's good estate. 
Enough the monster crime 
That chilled Sarmatia's clime, 
Enough what Poland braved' 
Ere Russian hate enslaved, 
Enough the robber rout 
That blotted Poland out ! 
Enough is one page 
Of Tyranny's rage ! 
Enough is the brief 
Of exiles in grief ! 



O ye who are given. 
As natives of heaven, 
The quality high 
Of grace of the sky, 
That maketh secure 
Where none could endure 
Devoid of the dower 
Of heavenly power. 
Could even the might 
Of sons of the light 
Fit an angel to bear, 
If, gifted so rare, 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 65 

An angel should dare, 
To con the dread score 
Of pillage and gore 
That causes the wail 
From Vistula's vale ! 
Or ponder the woes 
The banished one knows 
In Tyranny's chains 
On far away plains ! 



O ! the desolate strand 
Where hate burns the land 
To barrenest sand ! 
While doubt freezes there 
Till even the air 
Is chill with despair 
And dread as the breath 
Of the spectre of death ! 



In spite of the chill 
That freezes to kill. 
There facile ones fly 



66 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

From nethermost sky, 

Who, artful in eye 

And skillful to lie. 

From seeming at first 

On mission accurst 

From regions the worst, 

Soon look to repent 

Of evil intent, 

And, merciful bent. 

From sinister gleams 

Quick vary to beams 

Of a twinkling that seems 

The hopefulest ray 

Of the splendors of day ! 

And the lustre that glints 

Deceives as the hints 

That rosiest morn 

The waste shall adorn. 

Where no morning can come 

To the castaway's gloom ! 



There swift from below, 

There joyful at woe, 

There charmed with a moan. 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 67 

There rapt o'er a groan, 
There others have flown, 
Who missioned of Night, 
Who buoyant at blight, 
Who sportive at chains 
Harsh clanking o'er plains 
Where Tyranny reigns, 
Sing gleeful at cries 
Of anguish that rise 
From the victims of hate 
In the bondage of fate, 
Begirt with their dead 
And trembling with dread 
Of still deeper gloom 
To darken their doom ! 
But have harpers of hell 
The numbers to tell 
The gloom of a cell 
Of Saghalien, where dwell 
The good and the brave 
Whom tyrants enslave, 
Or the murk of the mines 
Where hope never shines, 
No, never, through years 
Of the saltest of tears ! 



68 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 



Kead not the story through ; 
One page alone will do ! 
One page alone of dread, 
One page with terror red, 
One page of hot tears shed. 
One page of that despair, 
Which fades the eye and hair. 
Saps e'en the power to cry. 
Gives a hot thirst to die, 
Kills the smile on the face. 
Blots the last look of grace, 
Blots the last mental trace. 
Stills the hand from device. 
Chills the blood into ice, 
And the nerves into bone, 
And the heart into stone ! 



O what chieftain would dare 
In the lists with despair. 
Though grandly he fare 
From tournaments where 
The giants, aflame 
With the passion for fame, 
Contend in the fray 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 69 

Of chivalry's day ! 

Aye, came he away 

Unhewn and complete 

And longing to meet 

Far fiercer than those 

He found to oppose, 

What victor would dare 

To cope with despair? 

How dead the heart, how dead, 

With hope forever fled ! 

And yet 'tis so quick 

That it trembles at tick 

Of the seconds of time 

And the pulsing of rhyme 

Of the song that keeps tune 

With the cadence of June ! 

Though despairing till dead, 

Yet it trembles with dread 

At the tenderest song 

That is wafted along 

Over clover and corn 

On the breath of the morn ! 

And it quivers and quakes 

At a zephyr that shakes 

But as gently as jar 

Of the beams of a star 



70 ARRAIGNMblNT OF RUSSIA. 

That in rose-scented hours, 
Bright glancing in bowers, 
Responds to the flowers 
That smile, to invite 
The cheer of the light 
Of the beauty of heaven, 
In stellar beams given. 



Aye, there's never a heart 
That's alive to all art 
And i^. beating in chime 
With nature's sweet rhyme, 
But if conquered by fear 
Would shudder to hear 
Even music ot waves 
Of the streamlet that laves 
The myrtle banks sweet 
Where the fairy ones meet, 
In elfin land grove. 
To warble of lo\e ! 
Aye, held by despair, 
No victim could bear 
Breath from elfin land, where 
But a breath of the air 



ARRAICxNMENT OF RUSSIA. 71 

Of the earth would displace 

The planets that trace 

Round the fairy land sun 

The courses they run. 

What then is the fate 

Of the victims of hate 

Of the despot who reigns 

O'er the Russian domains, 

And his victims doth cast 

To the pitiless blast 

Of northland, or wills 

That in Caucasus hills 

They shall dig till they die, ,^ 

And dishonored shall lie 

In a far away grave 

Too mean for a slave ! 

And fiendishly laugh 

The tyrants and quaff, 

At royalty's feast, 

For Vanity drest, 

i he wine drunk by Pride 

When he defied 

The heavens, and boldest lied, 

And sipped to aid him sing 

Kor Cruelty's king ! 

The juice of hell's hate ! 



72 ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 

Drunk by tyrants elate 

To desecrate, 

By their revelings bold, 

The vessels of gold 

From temples plundered where, 

In high devotion rare, 

The loving and the free 

Their feasts of liberty 

In Polish custom held, 

Far back in days of Eld ! 



O Heaven ! whose lurid star 
Maddens to might and war ! 
When thou shalt undertake 
The Russian yoke to break, 
Say, Heaven of justice, say. 
What blood can ever pay 
The wrong to Poland done 
By those whose ravage won 
By Vistula's fair tide. 
That, often crimson-dyed 
From noblest patriot slain, 
Goes moaning to the main ! 



ARRAIGNMENT OF RUSSIA. 73 

Ye thrice ten thousand dead, 

Whose blood the Cossacks shecl 

In homes of Praga fair, 

How eloquent your prayer — 

A plea to Heaven to aid 

A land in ruin laid. 

And emphasis of gore 

Hath this from thousands more 

Where Warsaw's reddened plains, 

That Freedom's ichor stains, 

And Cracow's crimsoned sod. 

Still wail their plaints to God ! 

Fair Wanda's mountain moans. 

Responsive to the groans. 

And Dnieper makes her cry. 

For Dniester to reply ; 

And from the Don to San, 

Rebuking Russian ban, 

Blood red the waters gleam 

Of each Sarmatian stream ! 

Whichever way it track. 

To Baltic or the Black, 

Sad, sad each river flows, 

A requiem of woes, 

From Poland to the seas 

That chant her miseries I 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 

/^N Ural hills it came, 

^-^ A tongue of prophet flame, 

A burning thither sent 

From out the firmament 

Of iustice, love and truth, 

And everlasting youth. 

And thus the fervid voice : 

" O tyrant ! have thy choice, 

To turn to righteousness 

And teach thy hands to bless — 

Repent the despot's crime. 

Worst cruelty of time. 

Or take the doom that falls 

Thereon — the mighty walls 

Of tyranny thrown down, 

The dimmed and wrested crown 

Of monarchs in defeat. 

With conscience to repeat 

To all the winds that fleet — 

" The tyrant's fate is meet ! ' " 

Thus, while the bright night heard, 

Swift flew the warning word 

And sought by westward star 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 75 

The palace of the czar. 
There, round the festive board, 
His nobles and their lord 
Glowed o'er their ruddy wine, 
In toast of new design 
To make the exiles weep 
And keep the world asleep 
Anent the wrongs that steep 
The tyrant Tartar's name 
In infamy and shame. 



But stay, why trembles he ? 
What vision doth he see ? 
No ghost in festive hall , 
No hand upon the wall. 
To make his pleasures pall. 
No fiend his eyes detect ; 
No peasant to suspect. 
Tried ministers attend, 
Full foot and horse defend 
The throne and citadel 
Where czar and kindred dwell, 
And cordonned round the land 
Grim guarding legions stand ! 



76 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

Yet pales the czar with dread ! 
He deems assassins tread, 
With blade athirst and blast, 
To drink his blood and cast 
In atoms to the sky 
The halls of tyranny ! 



The voice from Ural hills 

Flamed forth hath gone in thrills 

Of swiftest breezes blown 

Along the northern zone, 

And many leagues afar 

In palace of the czar 

With trembling terror fills, 

To consternation chills 

The ruler of the land. 

And not invention planned 

To keep supreme at home 

His reign, if foes should come, — 

And not ambitious schemes 

That give him pleasant dreams 

Of other lands to gain, 

Of widening domain 

To great increase of dower. 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 77 

To boundlessness of power — 
Not one of these, nor all, 
Can break the chilling thrall, 
And drive the fiends away 
That on his spirit prey ! 



And evermore shall cling 

Those fiends, and tear and sting, 

And for new vigor drink 

The ichor, black as ink, 

Of veins of tyranny 

That fed on liberty 

Through mauy, many years, 

Drank river floods of tears 

And jeered a thousand sneers 

At patriotic sighs 

Drawn by a czar's emprise ! 

After the burning spoke 

And round the echoes woke 

Responsive to the doom 

The flame announced to come, — 

Soft blazed the voice of truth. 

In tones of tender ruth 

Ot love's sweet firmament. 



78 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

A message eastward sent 
By one appearing there 
From out the upper air, 
Who seemed to high emprise 
Commissioned by the skies, 
He wore that loveliness 
That doth high worth express 
In angel or in men 
Of angel mien and ken. 



Away on zephyrs borne, 
He came at tinge of morn 
To bleak Siberian strand, 
The northern demonland. 
There imps abound in air 
Who give their constant care 
That w^hen the tyrants die 
Some sprite of ill shall fly 
To convoy them to hell. 
Reporting there how well 
They have performed the work 
The monarch of the murk 
Assigns, and thus, how far 
They have obeyed the czar. 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 79 

From spirit of the sky 
The imps affrighted fly. 
And well escaped his might, 
They pause them in their flight 
And hiss, in powerless ire, 
Their breath of spiteful fire. 
That freezes on the air. 
And now they backward fare. 
To see if stranger sprite 
Shall think him to alight. 
And soon he turns to fly, 
That bright one of the sky, 
His plumage to begrime, 
Down through the jagged rime 
Of rock where guardsmen pace. 
To keep the exile race. 
And this the word of cheer 
The toilers, listening hear : 
'^ Good patience, still, ye braves 
Condemned to fate of slaves ! 
Against Oppression's throne, 
The Mighty makes His own 
The cause of those who, long 
In suffering, still are strong." 



8o VISION AND PROPHECY. 

Glad on his herald tongue 

The delvers hofjeful hung. 

Yet scarce could angel's cheer 

Dispel an exile's fear. 

Forth then the voice of flame ; 

And soon a lovelier came — 

An angel with this word : 

" The message ye have heard 

Was told to me in heaven, 

Whence all good gifts are given. 

So strange 'twas thought 'twould seem, 

So fanciful the dream, 

Another one was sent 

Attesting the intent 

Of powers above to bless 

With buoyance in duress 

And exodus from chains 

To Freedom's own domains." 



The angel ceased and drew 
A stylus forth of hue 
Of the cerulean blue 
And ruby stone and white. 
And straight began to write 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 8l 

Upon the prison mine 
With deep cut lustrous sign. 
No words the delving said, 
But breathless watched and read ; 
And forth the angel fled. 



Came then a third to say ; 
"Toilers, ye have seen to-day 
Two of the seven prized most 
Of the selectest host 
Of all the armies bright 
Bannered in realms of light. 
Aflame with brightest star, 
That host ten thousand are, 
With place of honor given 
The thousand best of heaven, 
They who the most have blessed, 
As heaven's accounts attest. 
The sorrowing ones of earth, 
And honored most true worth. 
And those a hundred best 
Have placed before the rest, 
The hundred giving seven 
Most pleasing unto Heaven 



32 VISION AND PROPHtCY. 

The highest, foremost place 
Of all the angel race. 



*' And, of this number, one 
Is Uriel of the sun. 
And Raphael gracious is 
And given to ministries, 
And most sublimities 
Hath missioned been to see. 
And most of misery. 
The tirst your boon to tell 
Was flaming Uriel, 
And Raphael who came 
To witness Uriel's flame 
And cheer with face benign 
The delvers in this mine. 



" Led Israfil the throng 

In that first Christmas song 

That told the waiting earth 

Of a Redeemer's birth. 

And two of the seven 

From out the weeping heaven 



VISION AND PROPHECY. Sj 

Flovvn sad, in sympathy 
And wondering tears, to see 
Tiie dread sublimity 
Of rugged Calvary, 
Stayed sentinels and kept 
The tomb where Jesus slept — 
The loveliest of the sky, 
Who gave himself to die 
And their rejoicing eyes 
Beheld the Savior rise 
And saw the earliest ray 
Of that first Easter day ! 



" As, in God's economies, 

What once is true, forever is. 

And truth for angels holds for men, 

So, evermore, as when 

To watching spirits came 

The primal Easter flame. 

The best of honors given 

To man this side of heaven 

He wins who faithful waits 

With Right through cruel fates. 

Who bides with Worth through shame 

Shall have a lustrous fame ; 



84 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

With Christ through night of scorn, 

The joy of Easter morn ! 

And this, if fervors beat 

Of summer's fiercest heat, 

If 'tis November drear. 

Or if that time of year 

Whose wintry breath 

Is genuine as death ! 



" Not oft do mortals see 
In quick succession three 
Celestial ones, as ye 
This day have seen and heard 
In glad prophetic word. 
Yet men this truth may know, 
That for each want and woe 
Some angel waits above 
Commissioned by the Love 
Supreme, to fly and prove 
With blessings from the skies. 
That He is kind and wise 
And doth permit the stress, 
To give Him chance to bless 
And those who suffer, place 
To struggle into grace 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 85 

Of goodness and the dower 

Of perfectness of power. 

Whoso behaveth right, 

Whatever be his plight ; 

Whoever thinketh bright, 

Important, happy thing 

To say, or paint, or sing, 

Haih influence from the sky. 

And voice to ask him try 

To make both fine and strong 

The word, the tint, the song. 
Who heeds the first, gains more 
Of the celestial store 
That gives uplift from trite 
To new, from slough to height, 
From weakness unto might, 
From dryness, deadness, blight, 
To bud, and leaf, and bloom. 
That hint of Junes to come. 
O gracious boundlessness 
Of Heaven's power to bless I 



" Keep sweet, O patriots, ye 
In this hard slavery. 
And some day ye shall see 
The tyrant bend the knee. 



86 VISION AND PROPHECY. 



To ask for leave to fly, 

By conscience scourged to die 

Beneath this bitter sky — 

Here, where the clank of chains 

Doth fright Siberian plains 

To barrenness and dearth 

Unknown elsewhere on earth — 

Here, where such blight has blown 

Forever from the zone 

Of doubt, that all the air 

Is dense with chill despair ! " 



Seen or invisible, 

As seemeth to them well, 

The spirits come to tell 

The words of wrath or love 

That emanate above. 

And though alert to sounds 

And sights that vexed their rounds. 

The guardsmen of the mines, 

Sworn to the czar's designs, 

Saw not those whose emprise 

Was threatening from the skies. 

Though came they bright as stars 

To speak the doom of czars. 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 87 

But read the guards in mine 

The deeply-written sign, 

And sent a message far 

To citadel of czar. 

And he to frenzy flew, 

And worse each moment grew. 



Imperial mandate given, 

The royal guards had striven 

The writing to erase. 

But none could yet efface 

Indictment graven there 

By one of upper air. 

And livid in that mine 

Fierce glistened still each line 

^''Unless the czars repe7it 

Before the firmament 

And right the wrong 

Their hate hath done so long, 

For Poland's cup of gall 

The Russian throne must fall T 



The czar a chemist sent, 
Who vvith fierce caustics went, 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 

To eat the message out 
That so had put to rout 
The pleasure of the czar, 
And toiled from dawn to star 
With fiery rust and bar. 



Homeward the chemist flew. 
And this the message true : 
*' No science can begin, 
Nor skill, the race to win — 
The words are burning in I " 
Some straying peasant heard 
The courier's fateful word 
Reported to the lord 
Chief courtier of the king, 
And all the people sing, 
And children join the din, 
^' The words ai'e burnt fig in I " 



Again the man with bar 
And rust to please the czar. 
And tear the message out, 
Of which the people shout. 



VISION AND PROPHECY. 89 

And with his mission o'er, 
Reports he as before : 
'' A span, a foot, a rod — 
Swift science doth but plod. 
The words do inward fly 
As missioned from the sky ! " 



In rage the monarch flew, 
The alchemist he slew, 
And sent another, still, 
With threat to chain and kill, 
Did he not burn or tear 
That message of despair. 
And with him fared a guard 
That no one should retard, 
Nor scientist should flee, 
If unsuccessful he. 
Returned, he trembling said, 
As forth the guardsmen led 
Him, strongly held and bound. 
To slay if faithless found ; 
" A foot, an ell, a rod — 
The message writ of God 
About a nation's sin 
Is further burning in ! " 



90 VISION AND PROPHECY. 

The guardsmen aim to fire ! 
The monarch cries, " Retire 
With him in heavy chains 
To wildest northern plains ! 
The recreant's mocking breath 
Must not the ease of death ! " 



Fruitless the despot's plan 

Of banishing the man. 

Borne by the ready airs, 

His message onward fares 

Through scenes of joy and dearth 

Around the peopled earth ! 

Hill tells it unto ten, 

The wilds to homes of men. 

The mountain to the moor, 

The robin at the door 

Of cottage and of hall — 

That broken soon the thrall 

Of Russian slaves will be, 

And joy of Liberty ! 



And chant the brooks and birds : 
"The angel-written words 



VISION AND PROPHECY. gi 

About a nation's sin 

Are ever burning in / " 

And other birds are singing 

In every morn of winging, 

In every moon of flying 

For food for birdlings crying, 

And eve of homeward hieing 

To nest, and rest, and love, 

A message from above 

Befitting lark or dove 

To sing in all the earth : 

" Man's greatest wealth, his worth, 

His unearned plenty, dearth ; 

His best of liberty, 

Deserving to be free." 



Still other birds that fly 
And sing, they know not why. 
Thus cheer, inspire and warn 
At eve and happy morn ; 
*' Whatever first success, 
What flatterers address, 
How fondlv love caress. 
How praiseth selfishness 



92 A WARNING TO COLUMBIA. 

That hopes return, to bless, 

Whatever is the stress 

Of noyance that doth press, 

War waged for wrong is wrong. 

And weak and never strong. 

And weak is war for might ; 

But ever finds true knight 

All powerful war for right, 

f^or God is in the fight ! 

Though right should lose the fray, 

And victory delay, 

Yet surely comes the day 

Of victory, to stay, 

And show that right hath might ; 

For God is in the fight ! " 



A WARNING TO COLUMBIA. 

TOUT briefly where it sung 

^ The sentient glowing hung. 

Then over seas it came, 

The fearless warning flame. 

And o'er Potomac's tide 

In indignation cried. 



A WARNING TO COLUMBIA. 93 

As, eyeing halls of state, 
Mid-air the burning sate, 
Self-poised in conscious truth 
And sense of lasting youth : 
" For shame, Columbia, shame ! 
Bedimming thy bright name 
By leaguing with the power 
That claims by heavenly dower 
Each individual soul 
Of lands in his control, 
With right to dominate. 
Unto severest fate 
Those bending not the knee 
At nod of Tyranny ! 



"Why dost thou promise, why 
That when to thee shall fly 
Those fortunate to break 
Their bondage and to take 
Across the seas their way. 
West guided by the ray 
Of freedom, to thy land, 
They shall be held for hand 
Of czar, whose wrath they flee. 
To fly in hope to thee ? 



94 A WARNING TO COLUMBIA. 

These sent to despot back, 
To dungeon and to rack, 
For holding but the thought 
That ill the monarchs wrought 
Who joyed to curse 
With an oppression worse 
Than the tyrannic crimes 
Of old barbaric times I 
In league, Columbia, why. 
With Russian tyranny?" 



In silence, then, the flame. 
To hear if answer came 
From out Columbian hall 
And, saying " Deaf to all, 
And to thy past untrue ! " 
The lustre, sighing, flew 
To welcome of the blue. 
That bent, sad questioning. 
And bade the birds to sing. 
And brooks — " Columbia, why 
In league with tyranny ? " 



ORDEAL AND OUTCOME. 

r^ PATRIOTS, pure and strong, 
^-^ And waiting now so long 
Surcease of this hard fate, 
Wait on, for God doth wait ! 
For Christ, when in the fate 
O'er which all nature wept 
And Heaven sad vigils kept, 
His slayers could forgive. 
And died that they might live. 
He shed in death the tears 
That permeate the years, 
And ever plead with man 
The beauty of the plan 
Of giving bread for blows. 
For thorn, the thornless rose 
Of love, that sweeter grows 
Through trials oft and sore. 
That, wounded o'er and o'er, 
Doth from its fragrant store 
The balm of good disburse, 
And blessings breathe for curse. 



To keep this code of heaven, 
The patriots have forgiven, 



g6 ORDEAL AND OUTCOME. 

In hope that kindness win 
Who seventy times should sin. 
But seven times that have striven 
These foes of man and Heaven, 
And by ten thousand times 
Have multiplied their crimes ! 
And Heaven impatient grows, 
And, noting long the woes 
Of Poland and of all 
Within the Russian's thrall. 
Will surely send a liand. 
To write where tyrant band. 
In revel o'er their wine, 
Shall re;id and know the sign 
Grim glistening on the wall. 
That tyranny must fall ! 
Aye, patience may endure ; 
But wrath deferred is sure. 
And soon the man shall rise 
To hear and heed the cries 
Of victims of the czars. 
And then, O waiting stars. 
How will ye shout and sing, 
And call the birds to wing 
In swiftest flight, to tell 
Wherever patriots dwell. 



ORDEAL AND OUTCOME. 97 

His name who conquered Tyranny 
And set the exiles free, 
And Poland's fla^e^ unfurled 
To honor in the world. 



Aye, God will heed the cries 

Of Poland's agonies. 

For, though His name is Love, 

And His the carrier dove, 

Yet His the eagle is. 

And all the majesties 

Of all the life of earth. 

Since far creation's birth ! 

He gave the tiger power, 

And ocean monsters dower. 

To lash the seas to rage 

And mighty ships engage. 

He taught the earth to quake. 

And made the mountains shake. 

'Twas He created light 

And piled the Alpine height. 

He set the rhythmic spheres 

To cadence of the years 

Of the eternity 

He gave the right to be ! 



^8 ORDEAL AND OUTCOME. 

His Christ of Olivet 
And Galilee used, yet, 
A scourge; His Moses saw 
The lightnings of the law 
From Sinai blaze, to tell 
That with Jehovah dwell 
All powers, and it is well 
With those alone who fear 
Him, and in truth sincere, 
Hold all His statutes dear, 
Who live for righteousness, 
And never to oppress. 
And He, if stubborn prove 
The czars to pleas of love, 
Will call some iron man 
To execute His plan. 
To thunder forth His wrath 
And plow with war a path 
Through tyranny's domains 
And break the exiles' chains. 
And lead each patriot band 
To home and native land. 



And yet, protesting rhyme 
Against the Russian crime, 



ORDEAL AND OUTCOME. 99 

Fail not his worth to sin^, 

Who, once in Russia king, 

Had righted much of wrong, 

Had not the furious throng 

Smote Alexander down 

And set the Russian crown 

Against the Polish cause 

Of Liberty's good laws. 

And Polish patriots see 

A crime in anarchy. 

No vengeance on their foes 

Would they ; but thornless rose 

And white, and every flower 

Of Peace for those whose power 

Hath been so long the ban 

Of Poland and of man ! 

Unselfish in their grief, 

These patriots seek relief 

For all who feel 

The tyrant's iron heel. 

To people of the realm 

They seek to give the helm 

Of Russian power, 

As rightful dower. 

Nor charge they the rod 

Of tyranny to God, 



lOO A PILGRIMAGE OF CZARS. 

And spurn they the extremes 
Of the ill-visioned dreams 
Of those anarchic fools 
Whom wild unwisdom rules, 
They of that base alloy 
Which nerves men to destroy. 



A PILGRIMAGE OF CZARS. 



Tl riLL tyrants turn, who make 
^^ Their chief delight to break 
The patriotic heart. 
And name their crime an art ! 
Yet grant imagination scope. 
And patience chance to hope 
That czars be won to sense 
Of need of penitence. 
Or scourged until they see 
How wrong the cruelty 
That gives to Poland tears. 
And damns a thousand years ! 



A PILGRIMAGE OF CZARS. lOI 

Should miracle be done, 

The greatest under sun 

The visioned stars have seen, 

And czars repentance mean — 

Go, czars, by conscience sent, 

Go, honored to repent. 

Go, with your burden bent. 

Go any way ye must. 

Go, if through thorns and dust ; 

Go, if with heavy chains 

Like exiles o'er the plains ! 

Go, grateful that you may ; 

Go, seek fit place to pray. 

Go where the zephyrs say 

That sigh from heaven's way ! 

Go, foes of liberty, 

And fall on suppliant knee 

Where dust of Kracut is 

'Mid Cracow's mysteries, 

The first of Polish kings 

The muse of History sings, 

The Slavic chief of time 

Ere czars had cursed his clime. 

There, pleading not the claim 

Of royalty or fame, 

But only His good name 



I.02 A PILGRIMAGE OF CZARS. 

Who gave the one relief 
That owned himself a thief — 
There tell the skies your sin, 
Aware, as ye begin, 
That Christ, the ever kind. 
With justice mild, consigned 
To millstone and the sea 
The unwept tyranny 
Of Pharisees of old. 
To whom ye likeness hold ! 
Kneel, then, in Cracow, where 
The soul of Wanda fair 
Doth frequent still the air 
Above the hill that claims 
Sweetest of Polish names. 
And ask you there of Heaven 
If czars can be forgiven ! 



BY KOSCIUSKO'S DUST. 

npHEN, with this pleading done, 

-'' If beams benignant sun, 
Or if for you there shine 
One ray of star benign ; 
Then seek another grave, 
His place whom Heaven gave, 
To show to czars and earth 
A Polish patriot's worth. 
And sent to aid, in youth, 
Columbia's cause of truth. 
There, by this hero's rest, 
See, if, with prayer addressed 
The Heaven of Liberty, 
Czars can forgiven be 
Of Heaven and of the free ! 
There hear from far the cry 
Of those who hope, or try 
To hope, before ihey die, 
To see once more the home 
From which dear memories come. 
O ! memories that burn 
And into torments turn ! 
How must the exiles vearn 



I04 BY KOSCIUSKO S DUST. 

For once to grasp the hand 

Of kindred in the land 

Of their great leader's birth, 

The dearest land of earth I 

O, cruel tyranny ! 

That freemen may not see 

For once the boyhood farm, 

Sweet with the pet brook's charm 

For once the childhood cot, 

For once the play-place grot, 

For once the daisied mead. 

For once two paths to lead, 

As once, to trysting place 

Of bravery and of grace ! 

For once the grassy mound 

That love's fair roses crowned ! 

There Linka's ashes lie, 

Who had the choice to die 

Or tell the tyrant's spy 

When by His Highness bid, 

Of patriot Pavel hid ! 



And there's the outlook hill. 
And there the near-by rill. 



BY KOSCIUSKO S DUST. 105 

And there the other stieam, 
Whose unforgotten gleam 
Inspired the boyhood dream 
Of busy, Stirring life, 
Of joy in hardest strife, 
Of earning high success 
And coming home to bless, 
With nobly won largess, 
The village where in joy 
Erstwhile dwelt the boy ! 
Instead, condemned to pine, 
Imprisoned in a mine, 
For that high quality 
That fits men to be free. 



There, where the good man lies, 
Best of the sanctities 
Of the Sarmatian land, 
There, tyrants, stand, 
There, tyrants, kneel. 
And well the honor feel ! 
There, ye who give a slave 
The right to choose his grave. 
The felon, who atones. 
With hempen halter, groans 



io6 BY Kosciusko's dust. 

He caused, the right to say 
Where ye his bones shall lay — 
There, by Kosciusko's dust, 
Be honest, once, and jusl ! 
There, talk, repentant czars, 
With conscience and the stars. 
The eyeing stars, that see 
What is sincerity. 
And will no fleeting mood 
Of tears for years of blood ! 
Tell stars and conscience why 
In vain do freemen cry 
To you for boon of serf. 
For one green stretch of turf. 
Where, from foreign strand 
Sent back to native land — 
Where, if not given breath 
At home, they may at death 
Be sent to final rest. 
To slumber unoppressed ! 



Cannot endure the stars ? 
Why, there's a place, ye czars, 
Where stars do never shine. 
And whence no royal line 
Or peasant cometli back 



BY Kosciusko's dust. 107 

By straight or devious track — 
But onward still must fare 
Whoever goeth there ! 
And there's another, too, 
Where stars are never due. 
But lurid lightnings glare, 
And demons rule the air ; 
And hither none shall fare 
That ever enter there ! 
And there's another, still. 
Of fiowery plain and hill 
Of Sion, blest abode 
Of angels and of God ! 
And of the saints who rise 
From earth's hard agonies 
To freedom of the skies ! 
But, untransformed by grace 
To fitness for the place, 
In heaven no tyrants live ; 
For heavenly blisses give 
Such influence that 'twere hell 
For tyrants there to dwell. 



WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 

/^~\ YE unthinking czars, 

^^ Why contradict the stars ! 

For they have lived to see 

Too much of history 

To deig:n to a reply 

When even Russians lie ! 

Boast not your hosts in arms, 

That give the world alarms. 

For steel-clad giants are 

But pigmies to a star. 

Stars laugh at all your power 

And point to Shinar's tower, 

That was, and Babylon, 

That boasted to the sun 

Of her Chaldean might ! 

And held the world in fright. 

And perished in a night ! 

And but her ruins tell 

Of Babylon that fell ! 



And point the stars, to king 
Of whom but furies sing, 



WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. IO9 

The Herod throned of yore, 
But cursed forever more 
In street and cloister lore. 



From scanning these 

Look back to Rameses, 

Whom and whose like gave tears 

For twice two hundred years 

To chosen sons of God. 

And these condemned to plod, 

Scourged by oppression's rod 

That grew by gore, 

These, through their bondage sore, 

Upon God's promise fed, 

Till, brave enough, they fled. 

By visioned shepherd led. 



And now the sea before 
Withholds from freedom's shore, 
And prisoning mountains stand 
To hold for Pharoah's hand. 
But look ! the flood divides. 
Heaven holds apart the tides ! 



no WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS, 

The fugitives pass through ; 
Menephtah's hosts pursue. 
But fierce returning waves 
Whelm in their watery graves 
Ruler, horsemen, all — 
A wreck that hints the fall 
Of the Egyptian throne, 
O'er which, in warning moan, 
The ages sweep, to say 
That tyrants pass away 1 



Man's title to be free 
Is writ in history, 
And finds, to prove it, given 
The very truth of Heaven. 
And, sweet as favoring word 
By wooing Honor heard. 
The song of brook and bird 
And Zephyr's minstrelsy 
Are music of the free. 
So everything decries 
The despot's tyrannies. 
In waking life of spring, 
When glad the robins sing ; 



WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS. 

In the persuasive breath 

^ji June from flowery heath ; 

In airs that sweeten shade 

Of pleasant wooded glade 

And move the tairy ferns 

To dance by merry burns ; 

In storms around the peaks 

Where fierce the thunder speaks ; 

In chill November's gale 

That sweeps the frosted vale ; 

In Ocean's sullen roar 

On Winter's icy shore — 

In all her ministries, 

The voice of nature is 

Rebuke of tyrannies. 



In tender tones and mild 
As plaintive voice of child, 
In clarion peal, and strong 
As burst of lyric song ; 
Commanding, deep and slow 
As centuries that flow 
Through history 
Toward eternity — 



112 WARNINGS FROM ELDER DAYS, 

The olden warning word 
Repeated, now is heard 
In all the upward trend 
To Consummation's end ; 
The word in every wind, 
The word in every mind. 
But yours, audacious czars, 
Who contradict the stars — 
Let ye my people go ! 
Let ye the exiles go ! 



CONTRAST < 

i 



II 



CLARE, 



A RAVEN folds his wings 

Where Susquehanna sings 
A deep, unceasing dirge ; 
And, chiming with the surge, 
And sadder than the song. 
The bird, the whole day long, 
Cries forth from pines that sigh 
Beneath November's sky ! 
Yet vain the chant, how vain 
The whole commingled strain. 
To give a full relief, 
Or even lessen grief, 
When over loved ones slain, 
Bereaved hearts complain 
That woman false should prove 
To constancy of love. 
In vain the pine trees sigh, 
And bird and river try 
To tell their blessings tied 
Who mourn their Roderick dead. 
For he such joy had given, 
To them he seemed from heaven. 



Il6 CLARE. 

But came a fateful day 
To sweep their hopes away I 
Protecting angels ! spare 
The earth from more like Clare, 
Who lit, to quench, ihe fires 
Of love's supreme desires, 
Joyed o'er the fading glow, 
Laid then the altar low, 
And gloried in the guilt 
To wreck the temple built 
Of peace, by hope, above 
The silver shrine of love. 
And these in ruin say 
How sad that fateful day. 
Betrothed from her own choice, 
To make his heart rejoice 
Who faithfully and well 
Had loved, by message fell 
Clare put his joy to rout 
And ruthless blotted out 
The star that makes men glad 
And, failing, drives them mad. 



At middle of the night. 

When hope had boine such blight 



CLARE. 117 

'Twere midnight were it noon, 

November were it June ! 

Doubt's night, when 'gainst despair, 

Worst fiend of all that are, 

The lover long had striven. 

At midnight, demon-driven — 

He knew not what he did ! 

Blame him ? O Heaven forbid ! 

And Heaven their hearts sustain 

Who mourn their Roderick slain. 

And yet they bravely keep 

Life's course while still they weep. 

And braver than to live. 

The sorrowing ones forgive 

The cruelty of art 

That broke a lover's heart 

And drove him to the deed 

For which their hearts must bleed 

Throughout the desert years, 

And they shed bitter tears 

O'er one with sweetest worth 

That ever perfumed earth. 

O'er one whom traitor gave 

To an untimely grave. 



Il8 CLARE. 



So of this sadness voiceful surge 

Of river sang, and so the dirge 

Of pines, and^all the winds that blew, 

Told wtiat no yeoman was but knew, 

No dullest vision but could see 

Was useless here more witchery. 

Yet here, where seem the rocks in tears 

And giant oaks to thrill with fears. 

The artful Clare dissembles pain 

Of grieving love o'er lover slain. 

Till some repenting scorn they gave, 

Of feigning Clare her pardon crave. 

And speak in tones that fall like rain 

On thirsty herbs of fevered plain ! 

The hint of wish to fare away 

They gently chide, and press to stay, 

And beg a frequent friendly word 

By postman fleet or carrier bird. 

Then, flushing fine from their caress 

Who pray celestial graciousness 

The grief-rent heart of Clare to bless, 

The queen of arts that do not fail 

Goes forth to quest in other vale ! 



How many there her arts reward 
The song were weighted to record. 



CLARE. 



119 



Yet many 'twas, and there, of all 
Entranced, but one too brave to fall. 
This Donald was, blithe, wise and strong, 
From land of heather and of song — 
So gallant, unobtrusive, good, 
'Twere naught to read the noble blood 
Descended from some hardy clan 
Whose valor back to Wallace ran, 
And blended, in the days of eld, 
With might the glorious Bruces held. 
Discerning Scot, as Scots are born. 
With inner sight to ken and warn. 
He read her arts and read to scorn, 
And tossed a calm, derisive " nay," 
And said, as needless 'twere to say, 
" Fair one, withhold the huntsman's horn. 
Nor urge thy steed the chase forlorn. 
Although thine arrows oft have slain, 
To speed them here again were vain, 
Till easier game thine eyes shall see 
Before thee, queen of archery ! " 



Defeated once, but hopeful still, 
The artful is victorious till. 



CLARE. 

Returning where her course begun, 
Art wins again where erst it won. 
Inbreathing, from the airs that fleet 
And from the souls lier arts defeat 
New qualities of woman's power 
To add to her abundant dower, 
Audacious grows the conquering Clare, 
Till, daring sacred precincts where 
The ashes loved of Roderick sleep, 
And bowed bereavement comes to weep, 
She startles from affection's prayer 
The kin and comrades faithful there — 
Yet artful so they near believe 
Her artfulness, that v^ould deceive 
Almost the angels of the skies, 
So saintly seem her sophistries ! 
Assuming role of mourner, too, 
Who sorrows more than others do, 
She comes in tears and tearful goes, 
Returns in tears and plants a rose. 
And tarries oft in practice there, 
To learn the art to feign a prayer I 



Thus once from dawn to evening star. 
When stranger fared who came from far, 



CLARE. 121 

From England's coast, in quest of fame, 
From England's coast, with Albion's 

name. 
Though great his English consequence 
And all sufficient for defence 
Against most pleasures aimed to try 
To swerve from his endeavors high, 
It was not proof against the Clare 
Discovered thus by Albion there, 
A lovely grief alone at prayer I 



If power there be in woman's smiles, 
How thrice bewitching are the wiles 
Of woman tremulous with fears. 
Of woman grieving unto tears. 
And charming if the grief sincere, 
Her sorrow feigned more cause for fear, 
When greater than the true appear 
The acted sigh, and look, and tear. 



Tell not the story, though 'tis brief. 
Of Albion won by woman's grief. 



CLARE. 

So fully won that those who warned 

He heeded not till charmer scorned. 

Tell not the tale, though briefly said, 

Of Albion loving, Albion dead, 

Self-slain because refused by Clare, 

The charming grief he found at prayer. 

How great the woes of woman due 

At Roderick's grave and Albion's, too I 

At hint of day she weeps by one. 

By other with the setting sun ! 

But yonder, poised on buoyant wings. 

An angel messenger, who sings : 

" Fair one and false, inconstant Clare, 

'Twere ill for one from upper air 

For once a woman's mind to taint 

With words that any vices paint 

To which her cruelties have driven 

Good men whose virtues, sweet to heaven,. 

Bloomed fragrant on the airs of earth 

With odors of celestial worth ! 

And who shall tell the griefs that crazed 

Till calmest minds erratic blazed. 

Then sank forever in the night 

Of deepest hopelessness of blight ! 

Or who describe the crimson tide 

Where love, defeated, rashly died. 



CLARE. 123 

Although the busy following years 
Of triumphs won through causing tears, 
May for the moment thrust aside 
Remembrance of the first who died 
To whom, in plighting troth, she lied, 
Not long doth Clare forget, I ween, 
The color of the tragic scene 
When he went out a darkened way, 
Not even Clare forgets that day — 
Not even Clare, where 'er she stray, 
Not even Clare doth long forget 
The sadness of the sun that set 
When first a victim of her slight 
Rushed wild, despairing into night? 



'* But that dark night shall have a morn, 

O Clare, who didst his pleading scorn 

A morn when thou from night shall see 

His spirit in felicity. 

High mated in that country where 

No one like thee shall ever dare, 

O fair, inconstant, cruel Clare ! " 



"Forgiven by his gracious kin 
Thy keenest cruelty of sin, 



124 CLARE. 

Straight from his death, all unoppressed, 
Thou faredst forth on other quest, 
To win again, again to prove 
Thy sure inconstancy of love. 
And now, although in pride arrayed 
And flushing from achievements made, 
Thou comest to dissemble here 
The power to shed a truthful tear. 
And try the feat, of feigning, Clare, 
The awe and agony of prayer, 
To aid thee sorrowing love to feign, 
That should another lover gain 
For thee to crush, to see his pain ! 
Then thou wouldst drink his being up 
And toss aside the broken cup 
That was a faithful lover's self. 
As but the pence of beggar's pelf. 
And forth to other conquest fare, 
Inconstant and insatiate Clare ! 
Responsive to thy nature's call. 
Here Albion gave to thee his all. 
Drank thou his soul to thy delight. 
And all his power, to give thee might. 
Drank thou with that high ecstacy 
That speaks a woman's liberty ; 
And then, the consummation done, 



CLARE. 125 

Thou, cruel, fair, inconstant one, 
With might he gave didst giver slay, 
And say to all his pleadings nay — 
Thy victor soul to steel didst turn 
And Albion from thy presence spurn ; 
And alternated back to prayer 
Still other souls to charm and snare ! 
Nor wouldst thou rest until thine arts 
Had snared and drunk a thousand hearts, 
That each increased the art of Clare 
By thousand fold of power to snare. 
And all the kingliest of the earth. 
Mistaking artfulness for worth, 
Should rave in eloquence of praise 
Of thine enrapturing ways, 
Or cringe, meek suppliants for thy smiles, 
And, for them rivals, by thy wiles, 
Should die in duels for thine hand 
Till rashness reddened every land ! 
With airs to sigh a deep refrain. 
And stars in tears above the slain 
That cumbered every plain 
From northmost to Antarctic main, 
And mighty angels trembling o'er 
The prodigality of gore 
From Orient to western shore, 



126 CLARE. 

And saints forgetting bliss on high 
To shudder with the peaceful sky— 
This, this, O Clare, were unto thee 
The acme of felicity ! 



*' But thou shalt never capture more, 
Thy day of conquest now is o'er ! 
Tis mine, fair one, the word to speak 
That, spoken, must life's tenure break. 
To some that word is but a boon ; 
Yet unto most it comes too soon. 
But seem it soon, or seem it late, 
Or mean it boon, or mean it fate, 
Or seem it just, or seem it fell. 
When missioned here, that word I tell 
For I, fair one, am Azrael. 
And here that word as dart I send 
Thine artful cruelty to end ! " 



The listener speechless, quivering stood. 
Then, reeling, staggered toward the flood. 
The spurning waves soon cast ashore, 
And fishers, finding, pitying bore 



CLARE. 127 

To lonely glen and buried there, 

Where meagre marble reads of Clare ! 

There weird the pensive pine trees sigh 

Beneath the gray November sky, 

And raven comes on sombre wings 

And gruesome to the river sings, 

That, chanting sad and ceaseless strain, 

Bears burden to the distant main 

Of love that perfidy hath slain. 

And mournful whispering with the dirge, 

Distinct above the river's surge, 

And sigh of pines and note of bird, 

The spirit of a voice is heard : 

" O maiden fair, do thou be true, 

Or thou shalt long thy falseness rue ! 

O woman false, beware, beware j 

Repent thy ways, give heed to Clare ! " 



O who shalt tell the damning guilt 
Of her who wrecks ideal built — 
By her desired, by her inspired— 
By lover by her wishes fired. 
Than this there is no greater crime 
In all the rounds of troubled time, 
Beneath the wide-beholding sun— 
Who murders love, hath murder done 



INTERLUDE. 

O ye compelled to be 

Acquaint with perfid\^ 

Till ye might think that Clare, 

Was type of all the fair, 

Come where the roses rare, 

And clover blooming there. 

Shed forth upon the air 

The story of a love 

Whose fragrance cheers above 

The breath of sweetest June 

Of Summer's boon ! 



LILLIAN. 

Where sweet a shining river 

Flows singing to the sea 

And purls with charming cadence 
Where smiling landscapes be 

Gemmed bright with pleasant mansions, 
That in perspective seem 



LILLIAN. 129 

The counterpart of castles 

That fill youth's brightest dream — 
There, sweet within the valley, 

In other days, a scene 
That fills with choicest fragrance 

The years that intervene ! 



And for that scene the valley 

A finer verdure spreads 
When, cheering after winter, 

The May sun radiance sheds, 
And brighter flame and crimson 

And lovelier dun and gold 
The hardy mountain beeches 

And valley maples hold. 
When frost and autumn sunshine 

Their chemistry have done, 
In glorious completion 

Of work the spring begun. 



Dear vale of Metawampe ! 

Sweet bv the sunrise shore 



130 LILLIAN. 

Of thy majestic river, 

Delightful evermore 
An arbor was where Lillian, 

Who Leon promise made 
But later wrecked ihe plighting. 

By unwise kindred swayed, 
Returned, at last, repentant, 

To bid his hope relive, 
And tliere so bravely humble 

Knelt asking him forgive. 



And -quick above the sadness 

That darkened weary years 
And weighted him with sorrow 

Exceeding words and tears, 
There broke serenest radiance 

That ever augured day. 
Or woke a heart to courage, 

Or lit a wanderer's way. 



With gentle hand. 
In fairyland, 
To thoughts sublime she led him ; 



LILLIAN, 

With grandest views, 
And nectar dews, 

And heavenly fruitage, fed him 
From field and sky 
And mountain high 

Inspiring lessons read him ; 
With tender art, 
From her true heart, 

A sincere promise said him. 
Naming a day, 
A month away, 

A happy day to wed him. 



That good day came 
With sweetest flame 

The Orient ever lighted, 
To signalize 
The golden ties 

Of loving hearts united ! 
Day sweet with airs 
That banished cares 

And to high thoughts incited ; 
Day spanned with blue, 
The whole day through ! 



131 



132 LILLIAN. 

As if all wrongs were righted 
And sang the lark 
Till all birds dark 
Had flown from earth affrighted. 



The honeymoon 

Could not end soon 

Of two so nobly mated, 

But still would shine 

Were skies benign, 

Or if to grief storms fated. 



Their love kept new, 

For each soul grew ; 

And each the other aided 

Right things to know 

To help each grow, 

And love's rose never faded ! 



Sweet vale of Metawampe ! 

Therein, since that dear day, 



LILLIAN. ^33 

Auspicious time for trysting 

The silver nights of May 

For, then, from favoring Heaven, 
Swift where the lovers wait, 

Thrilled with the thoughts surpassing 
All else however great, 



Fly ministrants commissioned 

To utter words that save 
From cowardice the lover 

And make the maiden brave. 
And when the pledge is spoken 

To crown love's high emprise, 
They soar from Metawampe, 

To tell the waiting skies ! 



OTHER POEMS 



IV. 



w 



THE EQUAL LOT. 



TITH equal hand, impartial Heaven 
Bestows on all, the blessings given 
To cheer the earth. 



If birds that bless the morns of spring 
Alone at regal courts would sing, 
We might complain. 



But everywhere, from hill to shore. 
The joyous warblers artless pour 
Their songs for all. 



As grateful thine anemones 
And all the perfumed potencies 
Thy rose exhales 



As odors they of kingly kind, 
Empurpled in a palace, find 
The flowers to vield 



138 THE EQUAL LOT, 

That grow by royal gardener dressed, 
And bloom with smiles of princess blessed, 
On sacred days. 

Nor sweeter sound than you or I, 
Hears king or Croesus, walking by 
The purling brook ; 

Nor, navied in their gilded boats, 
Than we embarked in common floats, 
More restful plash 



Of wave ; nor surer they to ride 
In safety to the haven side 
Of waters sailed. 



Nor king than we has sweeter hymn 
Of Zephyr ; nor doth Sunset limn 
Diviner west 



For king, with hues from heavenly fount ; 
Nor nearer is the royal count 
Of stars than thine 



AMONG THE TREES. 1 39 

To His who outlined nature's plan 
And reared the astral arch, to span 
The universe ! 



W 



AMONG THE TREES. 

HERE nature reigns distinctions fade 
That pride may bring to grove and 

glade, 
To flaunt them there. 



Rank has no sway at nature's court, 
And Fame is there ot small import. 
And pelf is scorned. 

Impartially, when vernal breath 
Proclaims the winter's reign of death 
Is at its end. 

The maple buds portend the June, 
Whose leaves shall cool the torrid noon 
Of summer time. 



I40 AMONG THE TREES. 

To thee as kindly welcome wave 
The elms as unto prince they gave 
Who fared that way. 

And wild and tender harmony 
The pensive pines address to thee 
As unto all, 



And breathe balsamic airs of health, 
Uncaring for their rank and wealth 
Who seek the boon. 

The quiet beauty of the beech 

To thee as unto all will teach, 

If thou wilt learn. 

The loveliness of real worth, 
Whatever station in the earth 
The worthy have. 



To thee as grand the oaks that hold 
Discourse with crags of mountain bold, 
Anent the storms. 



AMONG THE TREES. I4I 

As unto royalty they seem ; 
And for thine eyes as brightly gleam 
The autumn woods 



As for the monarch who desires 
To imitate their gorgeous fires 
On robes he wears. 



But finds that futile is the sleight 
Of kings to deck themselves as bright 
As nature shines ! 



Contrasting with the snowy lands, 
As sombre-hued the hemlock stands 
To symbolize 



Thy grief, as though the dark cold green, 
Sighing, bemoaned with northland queen, 
Her consort dead. 



And when again the trees in bloom 
Dispel the thoughts of death and doom, 
And hope inspire, 



142 THE LESSON OF THE LILIES. 

Thou canst the graceful tasseling 
That decks the birchen boughs of spring 
As well enjoy 

Uncrowned, untitled and unknown, 
As though instated on a throne 
Of kingly power. 



THE LESSON OF THE LILIES. 



N 



ATURE rebukes presumptuous men, 
And yet invites the constant ken 
Of reverent souls. 



And still the words the Master saith, 
Who came of old from Nazareth, 
Nature repeats : 

Consider thou the lilies well, 
O man, who thinkest thou canst tell 
Their coloring, 



THE LESSON OF THE LILIES. 143 



And canst the processes divine 
Wherein the primal hues combine 
That beauty give, 

And tell the fragrances that meet 
To make those rarest odors sweet 
That lilies shed. 

Consider thou the lilies v.-ell, 
O man, who thinkest thou canst tell 
What lilies are — 

Perfection of the alchemies 
Wherein the chemists of the skies 
Have wrought their best ! 



And lilies not alone meant He 
Who taught on hills of Galilee, 
Their loveliness. 



But all the flowers that decked the field 
For him did sweetest pleasure yield. 
And theme for thought. 



144 THE LESSON OF THE LILIES. 

And, eloquent above thy speech, 
The flowers will still their ethics teach, 
O man of earth, 



As when, to prove His doctrine true. 
In Palestine, the Teacher drew 
From nature's store. 



And, mortal, thou canst ever find. 
If well instructed is thy mind 
By heavenly power. 

Such high renewal of thy might. 
Such inspiration and delight. 
And rest, and peace. 

In thinking on the works of God, 
From tiny twig and velvet sod 
To mountain peak, 

As thou, in thine ambitious schemes 
Fulfilled unto thy brightest dreams, 
Canst never tind ! 



AT DAY-BREAK, 



T last along the eastern sky 
The glimmerings of morn, 
To end in radiance of joy 

A night of doubt and scorn 



A 



Dread night— it was a winter long ! 

And cold with winds of fate, 
That still, through all their fiendish song, 

Were hot with ire of hate 



And live with imps whose interludes 
Chimed with the airs, to tell 

The rancor of infernal feuds — 
Fit minstrelsy of hell ! 



But now the birds with carols high 

Charm all doubt's fiends away. 

And crimsons now the eastern sky, 
To hint a coming day, 



146 A HEAVEN. 

That shall through all its hours remain 
Unvexed by doubt and scorn, 

And in the full of noon retain 

The newness of the morn ! 

A day whose evening shall proclaim 
That brighter dawning waits, 

Fulfillment of the sunset flame, 
At the celestial gates ! 



A HEAVEN. 

11 WHEREVER bloom the happy isles 
In lasting verdure drest. 

Whereon perpetual morning smiles 
High welcome to the blest, 

No gilded barques bear any there ; 

Nor, borne o'er summer seas, 
Do any find the orchards fair 

Of the Hesperides, 



A HEAVEN. 147 

As Story made a dragon bold 

'J^he fabled apples guard, 

So, now, who seek for fruit of gold 
Opposing fiends retard. 



But on the good the truth bestows 
Herculean power to slay, 

By valor's well directed blows. 
The monster in the way. 

Wherever the elysium is, 

In what good land afar, 

And gained by what high ministries 
Of what benignant star, 

It is not reached along the way 

Where sirens charm the sea ; 

But seek, the warning angels say, 
Through Christ of Calvary, 

The kingdom of conditions high, 
Where quality hath rate, 

Where fitness, and not heraldry, 

Gives entrance. through the gate. 



148 WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY. 

For what man is, not where he is, 

His heaven is, or hell ; 
His heaven the heavenly qualities 

That prompt his doing well. 

His heaven that high ennoblement 

That gives to whom 'tis given, 

The blessing of a heart content 
To win his way to heaven. 



WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR 
COUNTRY. 



A BOVE the gradeur of the sunsets 
^^^ Which delight this earthly clime. 
And the splendors of the dawnings 

Breaking o'er the hills of time. 
Is the richness of the radiance 

Of the land beyond the sun. 
Where the noble have their country 

When the work of life is done ! 



WHERE THE NOKLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY. I49 

There is the mysterious problem 

Of tlieir earthly life made plain ; 
There the bitter turned to sweetness, 

There the losses turned to gain. 
There the rapture of the new life 

Far exceeds the griefs of this, 
And earth's toiling is forgotten 

In the restfulness of bliss. 



And the music of their welcome, 

From angelic lyres of gold. 
Shall full often be repeated, 

Yet it never shall grow old ; 
Music grander than earth's noblest, 

Than all eloquence of words 
And the sweetest of the carols 

Of the gladdest of the birds ! 

Welcome there, and there forever 

Free from artifice of time, 
Shall the noble of that country, 

In the real of that clime, 
Read the wisdom of tlie Father, 

From whose all-creating hand 
Are the beauties, and the glories, 

And the people of that land. 



150 WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY. 

There they rightly read the visions 

Of the ancient seers, that give 
Higher good than urban splendors 

Where the saints at last shall live. 
There they surely find a heaven 

Not conventional or made, 
And inhabitants delighting 

In the hillside, brook and shade ! 



For magnificent with forests 

Is that country of the skies. 
Far excelling in their bird-songs 

All the earthly minstrelsies. 
And that country hath its mountains 

And is resonant with streams 
That are sweeter in their music 

Than the rivers of our dreams ! 



Blooms of finest form and lustre. 

Fragrant on the eternal hills. 
With their odors bless the zephyrs, 

That, harmonious with the rills. 
Sing, to give the angels pleasure 

Who were fit to sing the birth 
Of the Savior of the sorrowing 

And the sinful of the earth. 



WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY. 15I 

And, His mission there completed. 

He shall reign with them above 
And instruct them in the wonders 

Of the country of His love, 
Where He giveth them an entrance 

And that higher work to do 
That shall keep them ever growing. 

And the charm of living, new. 



And His name throughout the ages. 

As the aeons circle by, 
To the trend and to the cadence 

Of their own eternity, 
Shall be theme and inspiration, 

In the land beyond the sun, 
Where the noble have their country 

When the work of life is done ! 



I 



